The Truth is Still Out There: Thirty Years of the X-Files

In September 1993, a TV show like no other appeared on our screens, asking us to consider the essence of truth and belief, to think about the nature and roles of science and humanity, and to question what we were told by those in power. Combining horror, science fiction, drama, crime, and comedy with cinematic filmmaking, The X-Files transported the paranoia of the sixties and seventies to the technologically savvy nineties as it followed two iconic characters, FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, in their labyrinthine pursuit of truth. Further, The X-Files reversed conventional television gender roles: Mulder was our believer in the paranormal, chasing down clues in search of his abducted sister; Scully was the skeptic, a scientist preaching rationality and objective truth. Now, thirty years later, the nature of conspiracy theories may have changed, but the anxiety surrounding them has not. In an era in which Watergate has been replaced by Gamergate and conspiracy theorists blindly embrace the myth of a stolen election and maintain that an all-powerful cabal of Satanic Democrats—defeatable by only one man—is preying on children, The X-Files remains as relevant as ever.